Episode Description
What do you do when your district has 1,200 fewer students than it did 25 years ago, but the same number of school buildings? For Lee Thennes, Superintendent of the Manitowoc School District, the answer meant making one of the toughest decisions a leader can face—closing buildings to preserve educational quality for the students who remain. In this candid conversation, Lee shares the reasoning, resistance, and resilience required to navigate one of education’s most emotionally charged challenges.
Meet Your Guest:
Lee Thennes is the Superintendent of Manitowoc School District, where he has led the district through significant demographic shifts and structural reorganization. His student-centered approach to decision-making has made him a thoughtful voice on the difficult trade-offs school leaders must navigate in an era of declining enrollment and aging infrastructure.
What You’ll Learn
In this episode, Lee breaks down the strategic thinking behind closing school buildings—and why it wasn’t really about the buildings at all. You’ll discover how he reframed a crisis of declining enrollment into an opportunity to strengthen what matters most: the people and programs that truly educate students. Perfect for superintendents, central office leaders, and board members facing similar challenges, this episode offers both the data-driven rationale and the human wisdom required to lead through controversy.
Key Takeaways
– Student outcomes matter more than facilities. The building itself doesn’t educate children—the educators and support staff inside it do. Consolidation can preserve quality programming while eliminating inefficiency.
– Declining enrollment demands difficult decisions. When you have significantly fewer students but the same infrastructure costs, maintaining the status quo isn’t sustainable. Leaders must be willing to make structural changes rather than slowly decline.
– Community resistance is inevitable—and that’s okay. Emotional attachment to school buildings is real and valid, but it’s different from what students actually need to thrive academically and socially.
– Lead with clarity about your “why.” When you can articulate that every decision prioritizes student learning and opportunity, you give yourself and your community a north star during turbulent times.
– Leadership means you won’t please everyone. The superintendent’s role requires making decisions based on what’s right for students, not on universal approval—and that’s part of the job.
Notable Quotes
“I pick kids as an opportunity every time.”
“Can you please tell me the last time you learned anything from a building?”
“We can’t continue to operate the same way that we did 25 years ago when we have 1200 less kids.”
“It was the people inside of that building who help educate her children and teach them the values and help them learn how to be responsible and respectful. That really made the difference. Not the fact that that building sat there in that particular spot.”
“What I would say is to try to remember always why we’re here, because you’re not going to be able to please everyone in the role of superintendent or quite frankly, any leadership role.”
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Ready to hear how one superintendent transformed crisis into opportunity? Listen now and discover the courage and clarity required to lead through change. **Subscribe** so you don’t miss future conversations with education leaders who are making a real difference in their communities.
FULL PODCAST Transcript
Lighthouse Therapy (00:00.725)
Hello everyone and welcome to the brighter together podcast. My name is Janet Courtney and my special guest today is Lee Thennes. Lee is the superintendent at Manitowoc school district in Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Lee, welcome to the show.
Lee Thennes (00:17.858)
Well thanks, Cordy. Well, thanks for having me. It’s a great pleasure to be with you today.
Lighthouse Therapy (00:22.587)
Awesome. So tell us a little bit about your journey to becoming superintendent and a little bit about Manitowoc.
Lee Thennes (00:31.064)
Sure. Well.
I moved to Manitowoc in 2001 when I graduated from Northern Michigan University with a degree in social studies education. I was a political science and history teacher at Lincoln High School here in the district for 10 years. I received my master’s in educational leadership in 2009 and I began my career in administration in 2011 as an associate principal in a neighboring district.
back to this district four years later and I was a principal at a middle school for two years. I was principal at the high school for seven years and
A years ago, I became a curriculum and instruction director. And, last year I became interim superintendent when our superintendent resigned and this year they hired me. now, so I’ve been in the community for a really long time. I’ve been very active. I’ve served on various boards, organizations, nonprofits, the city council at one time years ago. Seems, seems like yesterday, but it was already 15 or 17 years ago or something like that. And then,
Lighthouse Therapy (01:25.148)
Awesome.
Long time.
Lee Thennes (01:45.519)
Manitowoc is a cozy little town, about 35,000 people right on Lake Michigan. Uh, so I grew up in the upper peninsula of Michigan, so I had to be by water. That was like a rule for me. Uh, and so I landed in Manitowoc and I’ve never left. I love it here. I have two great kids. My daughter, Samantha is a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and my son is a senior this year and he’ll be headed off to school next year. So, uh, I’m happy to here having fun.
Lighthouse Therapy (01:55.859)
Mmm, mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:12.139)
So empty nest, yeah, yeah, oh yeah, yeah, empty nest. I’ll tell you, that’s a interesting one to navigate, believe it or not. It’s like, oh, all of a sudden, especially senior year, you’re so busy making sure that they have so many things going on and so many cool things happening in their lives. And then they graduate and they go off and it’s like, oh, it’s quiet. Yeah.
Lee Thennes (02:17.154)
Thank
Lee Thennes (02:37.07)
really is. And out of my two kids, my daughter’s the one that, you know, has a little more energy and is a little, a little more talkative and those things. So it was a real notice when she left to go to school. But we had her home for a break and she, you know, she, think she was more homesick going back after break than she was in the fall when she went. That’s a good sign. I’m glad they, I’m glad she misses us, but.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:47.229)
I bet. Yeah. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (02:58.006)
yeah, yeah.
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And then all of sudden it’ll be like, you know, I’m lucky if I’m lucky if I get my son, I usually get him for Christmas, but never for Thanksgiving anymore. He’s up in the ones up in Michigan. So I get it. You know, it’s just it’s just life, you know, and you don’t want to stifle them. You want them to be, you know, to to fly, get their wings and fly. But it’s hard sometimes. Anyway.
Lee Thennes (03:05.39)
Exactly.
Lee Thennes (03:13.218)
Yeah.
Nope.
Lee Thennes (03:28.866)
at all.
Lighthouse Therapy (03:29.501)
Anyway, so tell us about Manitowoc School District. What’s going on there?
Lee Thennes (03:32.557)
Mm-hmm. Manitowoc Public School District is really, at this point in time, you’re actually catching us at a very challenging time in our history. We’re…
declining enrollment school district, which 70 % of the districts in our state are. And so, when I moved here in 2001, we had about 5,500 students. And today I’m talking to you with, we have about 4,300. and so, but, but structurally we operate really the same way. So, as you can imagine, this is a conversation about consolidating efforts and resources and all those things. So, we’re actually this year, the board recently passed
Lighthouse Therapy (03:51.659)
Mmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:01.63)
Ooh, wow.
Lee Thennes (04:16.208)
recommendation of my team to, we have to close two elementary schools. And that’s been a very big challenge because as you well know, schools are part of people’s identity. And, you know, especially in our town that is really rich in history and tradition, we have a very beautiful 102 year old high school that has a tower and overlooks Lake Michigan. It was nominated by Architectural Digest magazine in 20, I believe it was 2017 or 18 as the most beautiful school in the state of Wisconsin.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:26.667)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:37.387)
Hmm
Lee Thennes (04:46.229)
So we’re very, proud of our…
rich traditions in history. but we have to do some things, you know, differently to survive really in terms of operational, constraints that we’re under now with decline in enrollment, but our folks have been great. We’ve worked through it. We’re really trying hard to, celebrate the schools that are be closing and give a chance for those alumni and staff and retired folks and opportunity to celebrate, that legacy. And so that’s something we’re working on right now.
Lighthouse Therapy (04:57.792)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:17.973)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:21.363)
It’s tough when you’ve had something for so long and then, know, you know, times change for a reason, right? Things, yeah. It’s hard though, it’s really hard. It’s really hard, yeah. I think the school that I grew up going to, I don’t know, we were the Mustangs. It was in Grand Island, Nebraska. think the community college uses it now. So, yeah, I don’t.
Lee Thennes (05:29.742)
Yeah.
It is. It is.
Lee Thennes (05:47.637)
is that right? Yeah, we’re the Manitowoc ships because we have a very rich shipbuilding history here. We built subs in World War II and all sorts of things and yachts. We have a boat company called Bird and Boat that builds yachts. very rich military. Yeah, correct.
Lighthouse Therapy (05:52.072)
Lighthouse Therapy (05:58.55)
Bye.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:04.095)
Wow. Well, if you’re right on, yeah, if you’re right on the water, right? Okay, so I grew up in Grand Island, Nebraska and the high school, was a Grand Island Islanders, Nebraska, a landlocked state. Go figure that one out. Yeah, it was the Grand Isle because at that time when…
Lee Thennes (06:15.79)
Yeah, that’s funny.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:24.287)
little bit of history about Grand Island, Nebraska. Nobody wants to know, but I know. It was the Platte River. The Platte River went around both sides of Grand Island and it was the Grand Isle. know, a little bit of not a great, I don’t know why they did that, but there you go. So we were always the Grand Island Islanders and no, no, an island in the middle of Nebraska. So there you go. There you go.
Lee Thennes (06:41.134)
you
Lee Thennes (06:48.27)
That’s very interesting. I never knew one existed in the US.
Lighthouse Therapy (06:52.371)
And it’s really not, there’s no really. And the crazy thing is as they’ve, you know, damned it and things have changed it, there’s no water in it anymore. it’s crazy. yeah. It’s one of those meandering. No, it’s not a meandering. It’s other kind. don’t know, geology where they, know, the sandbars all over and it just changes. And anyway, someone’s going to correct me, but that’s okay. No, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope.
Lee Thennes (07:01.256)
really?
Lee Thennes (07:14.904)
So the question is, did they change their mascot? still islanders. OK.
Lighthouse Therapy (07:20.487)
No, we’re still the islanders, still the island, still a palm tree. Can’t find a palm tree one in Grand Island, Nebraska, but there’s a palm tree on their, on their mascot. So, you know, yeah. You know, they have like anything else about proud history. This is what we have. This is who we are, right? So yeah, it was a great place to grow up. Definitely was. haven’t lived in a long time, but lots of really good people in Grand Island, Nebraska. So there you go.
Lee Thennes (07:27.854)
I’m gonna have to look that one up.
Lee Thennes (07:38.872)
you
Lighthouse Therapy (07:48.056)
Anyway, okay. So, so what else, what good things? Tell me some great things that are happening. Cause I know there are good things that are happening too.
Lee Thennes (07:52.825)
Sure, yeah, so we’re super, of course, absolutely.
We talk a lot about how it’s our job to help get kids ready for what’s next. And in our case, it really means we want to really work on our kids becoming effective communicators, creative problem solvers, and engaged community members. And with that, a big thing for me is really helping kids figure out what they want in life and where they want to go and what they want to do and all of those sorts of things. So I’m very proud to say we
Lighthouse Therapy (08:04.661)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:11.157)
Yeah.
Lee Thennes (08:29.708)
an awesome
pathway for really kids that want to go on to four-year college, kids that want to go to tech school, kids that want to go out into the workforce. We have a lot of manufacturing in our town. So two, two real things I’m proud of one on the work side of things. have a very robust school to work program. 177 of our students are youth apprentice in our community. So they work for various businesses and organizations.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:44.416)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (08:56.725)
Wow. Mm. Mm-hmm.
Lee Thennes (09:02.136)
They’re paired with mentors. They go to school half time and they work half time. And it’s great experience. You know, we fill the Capital Civic Center every year with the celebration of really this partnership. It’s hard to explain, but you know, we have a great relationship with our business community as a result of it. They’re appreciative of having our kids because they’re fantastic. And we’re very grateful that we’re giving kids a chance to really experience
Lighthouse Therapy (09:26.475)
Mm-hmm.
Lee Thennes (09:31.969)
a career opportunity. And you know, I say an awful lot. Sometimes the biggest lesson learned is that I don’t want to do that. And what a valuable lesson to learn when you’re 17 or 18 instead of, you know, spending a year or two in school and, and or doing something that, you know, you don’t want to do.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:40.029)
Right. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (09:49.653)
getting a liberal arts degree and having nothing to do with it. What do you do with it? Right? Yeah, for sure.
Lee Thennes (09:52.547)
Yeah, there you go. There you go. we’re very proud of that program. In 2017, we only had 57 youth apprentice and now we’re up to, like I said, almost 180. 30 % roughly of our high school is involved in some type of school work programming. So it’s very exciting. On the other side of the coin, we know that, you know, four year college is a thing for a lot of kids. And we did something here in Manitowoc.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:05.235)
Wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (10:11.797)
need. Yeah.
Lee Thennes (10:22.48)
that was the first in our state. We partnered with the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay to create what we call the Rising Phoenix program, which is essentially an opportunity for our students going into their junior year to be duly enrolled in high school and in college and earn an associate’s degree while going to high school. They take very minimal classes on our campus. We’re really well positioned in that we have an extension of
University of Green Bay in our town that’s about less than two miles from our high school campus and we’ve now we’ve now got a hundred kids in that program and they’re earning their associate’s degree most of them for no cost We only have we have a cap on the no cost but we pass on our discounts to the others and quite frankly affordability is a big issue in our area and that access to four-year college right in our own backyard has been a great step up for some kids to
Lighthouse Therapy (10:55.263)
nice.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:14.571)
Yeah, of course.
Lee Thennes (11:22.32)
The program really looks at first generation college students, students that are struggling to meet financial needs. And it’s been an incredibly successful program. Our students are really killing it in there. They’ve got a great GPA. They’ve earned, you know, we essentially estimate that over the course of the few years we’ve run this program that first of all, 2,588 credits were earned for a savings of 1.6
million dollars to our families. I mean, those are our two flagship programs.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:54.965)
Wow, wow.
Lighthouse Therapy (11:59.699)
Absolutely.
Lee Thennes (12:00.846)
We’re strong in the arts. We have a great arts program here that we’re excited about. And then, you know, your typical division one size, we’re still division one, even though we’re declining enrollment. We’re at the top 50 of size districts in the state. So, you know, there’s 430 districts in the state. in the top 50, you know, in size. So, you know, we’re still large enough, but it provides us great opportunities to,
Lighthouse Therapy (12:13.194)
Mm-hmm.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:17.652)
Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:22.634)
Okay.
Lee Thennes (12:30.872)
really focus in on some special things for kids.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:35.229)
curious about that when you talk about so there’s different divisions is we’re talking about sports right I mean I’m this is my ignorance I don’t I mean is it mostly sports or is it other things as well
Lee Thennes (12:42.633)
Yeah.
Well, it may transfer into other things, but when we’re talking divisions, it’s primarily through the WIA and through our interscholastic sports system. Yep. Yep.
Lighthouse Therapy (12:57.833)
Okay, okay. And that translates into like where, schools are probably gonna look at the kids when they look for athletes going to scholarship, that kind of thing, or does that not make a difference? Okay.
Lee Thennes (13:12.858)
Probably doesn’t in that case. They’ll recruit kids who would be good fits for their program, whether they’re in division one, two, three, four, whatever. The key really there is for, when you’re getting to the point of your end of season tournaments and things of this nature, you know, we have championships for division one, two, three, four, so down the line. So that’s primarily the reason for having that delineation.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:22.249)
Okay.
Lighthouse Therapy (13:32.893)
Mm-hmm. Right. OK.
And the division one championships are the toughest, right? mean, those are the ones where you have the most competition and not everybody’s gonna get to play. And why isn’t my child getting to play football? it’s like, sorry, he’s a bench warmer. That’s just the way it is, right? I mean, cause not every child can play and it is what it is, right? yeah, but the competition is there. There’s a…
Lee Thennes (13:44.044)
Yeah, yeah. Yeah. That’s right.
Lee Thennes (13:55.948)
Yeah. Yep.
Lee Thennes (14:01.247)
It is what it is.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:05.867)
I think there’s definitely, mean, because I’m pretty sure we were division one. Again, we’re going back to my high school. I don’t know why I keep doing that, but it was only 40 years ago now. But, know, this is one of those things where it’s like, I don’t pay that much attention, but it is important. And I know my son, he was a wrestler and they were not division one. And there was discussion about that as well. And he was never like, they went to state and did those kinds of things. But it just,
Lee Thennes (14:33.443)
Sure.
Lighthouse Therapy (14:34.859)
It just makes a difference in the number of kids and the number of the talent pool that you have,
Lee Thennes (14:35.862)
It makes a difference.
Lee Thennes (14:43.17)
Yeah, absolutely. you know, like anything else, it’s, it’s about, it’s about your head coach and the program that they develop and the type of youth opportunities you have. We actually just shifted last year to invest in elementary school sports. And that will move into our new intermediate school and middle school that we have opportunities for kids at the youngest of ages to get them involved. Not every family has the means to, you know, put their kids in the
club sports programs. So we’re really, we really believe that a kid’s sense of belonging in their school is enhanced so much by being involved in co-curricular opportunities. And that always, almost always anyway, yields positive results in the classroom. And that’s obviously where we’re really, really wanting success. So.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:33.791)
Right, yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (15:38.656)
Yeah, study after study after study has said that, you know, having extracurricular sports and extracurricular activities make a difference in the classroom, make a difference in confidence, especially with young girls too. There’s the, it’s incredible. The difference it makes for young girls. And I’ve read some of those studies and it’s so true. And it’s like, yep. Yep. I always told my daughter, Nope, you got to play sports. You got to play sports.
Lee Thennes (15:41.08)
Thank you.
Lee Thennes (15:48.427)
Yeah.
Lee Thennes (16:01.774)
Yep.
Yeah, we had, so it’s kind of funny, you know, I have two kids. My oldest, Samantha, wasn’t a sports person, but she was in choir and did, you know, theater. And then I have my son who was in the sports and he was the sports kid, but didn’t do any of the other stuff. it’s like, yep, raised under the same roof with all a lot of similar experiences, but boy, they have their, different passions, which I, I just said, the only rule is you have to do something.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:33.311)
Right, exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then you have that one that just wants to do everything. And it’s like, okay, you know, you can’t do all of it. You have to pick the one, you know, because wrestling and basketball run at the same time. You have to pick one. You can’t do both of them. No, not easily anyway, so.
Lee Thennes (16:33.352)
I’m not going tell you what it is, but you got to do something.
Lee Thennes (16:42.048)
Yeah.
Lee Thennes (16:51.606)
Yes, can’t probably do both of those. We have an occasional field goal kicker that’ll also play soccer, you know, that’s primarily show up for the football games as a kick the ball through the thing.
Lighthouse Therapy (16:59.505)
I. Yeah.
Right, and football, boy, know, we are high school football, Friday night football, the best. It is just, it’s just, you’ll never, I don’t think you ever get over that experience of, you just go there and it’s like, it doesn’t matter if you’re winning or losing, there’s just something about high school Friday night football. You just love it, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and if you haven’t experienced it ever in your life, listeners,
Lee Thennes (17:22.904)
See you.
Yeah, it’s that community. It’s that community. Yeah.
Lee Thennes (17:34.508)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (17:34.848)
find your local high school and just don’t be creepy, but go and and experience it because it’s just, actually went, we live, like I said, in Corpus Christi and we have a really good friend. Her son is being, their division one, I think in Texas. Again, I’m talking, I don’t know. I’m talking, don’t correct me, I don’t know, but they’re big school. And he’s got a scholarship and she said, we just said, we wanna see him play. We never really got.
Lee Thennes (17:39.308)
Hahaha
Lee Thennes (17:51.95)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:04.587)
It wasn’t something that we did all the time, but boy, I went back and it was like, oh, this is so much fun. Where’s the popcorn? Get me the popcorn. I’m have the popcorn. And it was a fall and it wasn’t too cold because I’m in Corpus Christi, it wasn’t so cold. I remember some cold nights a couple of times, but yeah, so fun. So fun. So what would you say for those that are
Lee Thennes (18:10.808)
fun. Yep.
Lee Thennes (18:23.084)
Very.
Lighthouse Therapy (18:32.199)
are experiencing or may be experiencing the kinds of challenges that you are experiencing as a superintendent. What kind of advice would you give somebody who’s maybe a new superintendent or considering going into a position and knowing that this is some of the challenges is declining enrollment. What kind of, would you say to that person?
Lee Thennes (18:55.148)
Well.
What I would say is to try to remember always why we’re here, because you’re not going to be able to please everyone in the role of superintendent or quite frankly, any leadership role and ask the right questions, involve the community. Those are two big ones. You know, at the same time, we’re talking about declining enrollment. We’re also talking about very old school buildings that need some care.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:26.091)
Right.
Lee Thennes (19:26.128)
And so we’ve sort of tied sort of the two together. Let’s say like, hey, we need, we have an obligation to right size our school district. We can’t continue to operate the same way that we did 25 years ago when we have, you know, 1200 less kids. you know, so if you’re going to try, then that means ultimately you have to make choices. And unfortunately, you’d be making choices of cutting programming and opportunities for kids.
Lighthouse Therapy (19:40.021)
Right.
Lee Thennes (19:55.521)
as opposed to bricks and mortar. I pick kids as an opportunity every time. And I think it’s telling that story to your community so they understand that, you know, you’re in a position where something needs to be done one way or another. So really trying to help them understand. did town halls, we did Q and A’s, I recorded things, I did frequently asked questions, documents. I really, really feel like the public understood. And we saw neighboring communities
Lighthouse Therapy (20:00.662)
Right.
Lee Thennes (20:25.604)
struggle a little bit with community outcry when they had to go through this process. But we involved, I ran an advisory committee of staff and citizens in separate fashions where we went through and educated them on all of the variables involved in making tough decisions like this. And then we also had them come up with solutions. And ultimately the solutions that they came up with is what we recommended to the school board.
Lighthouse Therapy (20:40.331)
Mm-hmm.
Lee Thennes (20:55.504)
very very community driven exercise and so as a result was there some disappointment was there some hurt and was there some even anger about closing schools the answer is yes and I think you’ll get that personally everywhere but
We didn’t have near the outcry that some communities, schools have had around here. People sort of took it in stride. would say I was very grateful just to not have some of that. So I would say involving the community and really making it about educating them about the tough decisions and just being very open and honest about the why and.
Lighthouse Therapy (21:30.547)
Yeah, for sure, right? Yeah.
Lee Thennes (21:45.837)
People appreciate transparency. People appreciate you just, whether it’s good, bad, or other, you got to say what it is. You know, got to be honest with them. And I would say that, you know, looking back in hindsight, my, and our team really did a good job of those things, which helped us ultimately when the time came for the tough stuff.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:10.879)
Right, yeah, well, good for you, good for you guys. Yeah, nobody likes change. People don’t like change. None of us do, you know, but it is a part of life. We were just talking about change in your household, you know? You’re experiencing that change now. And I was talking to somebody the other day about, you know, we have stages in life and there’s changes all through life. It’s just a part of it.
Lee Thennes (22:16.204)
No, it’s Yeah.
Lee Thennes (22:24.931)
That’s right.
Lee Thennes (22:30.318)
We have stages in life.
Lighthouse Therapy (22:34.603)
You don’t have to like it, but you have to you have to embrace it or or you’re going to be miserable your whole life if you hate if you just cry about change all the time, right? So, yeah, I don’t like I don’t like paying 58, but there it is. You know, the wrinkles are coming. I’m I’m fighting the gray with all I got. But, know, it just it is what it is. It’s just a part of life. But I’ll take the wrinkles over the alternative. Right. So are. Yeah.
Lee Thennes (22:43.362)
You got it.
I hear you on that. Yep.
Lee Thennes (22:59.598)
or a screw. No doubt about it.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:03.071)
For sure. Well, Lee, thank you so much for your time and for coming on brighter together and being transparent about the good, the bad and the ugly, right? And you guys are doing amazing things and I loved hearing about the good things. And I love the fact that you said we prioritize the kids over the buildings. And that’s so telling to me how much you love your kids in your community. And ooh, that just gives me the chills. So keep it up.
Lee Thennes (23:12.3)
Yeah.
Lee Thennes (23:30.861)
Well, you know, as one further anecdote, you know, so the vote was taken and it announced that Jackson and Madison schools, elementary schools would be closing. And I had.
Lighthouse Therapy (23:35.379)
No, sure.
Lee Thennes (23:46.635)
a lady, call and leave me about a three minute voicemail to express her displeasure with that decision. In the voicemail, left an opportunity for me to give her a call back by asking, I need to understand why.
Lighthouse Therapy (24:02.219)
Mmm.
Lee Thennes (24:02.412)
because my kids are successful today because of that school. And I just merely asked her one question, which was, can you please tell me the last time you learned anything from a building?
Lighthouse Therapy (24:19.563)
Mm-hmm, good question, oh yeah.
Lee Thennes (24:22.316)
And she just paused and she’s, know what you’re saying, but, and I get it. But at the same time, I reminded her that it was the people inside of that building who help educate her children and teach them the values and help them learn how to be responsible and respectful. That really made the difference. Not the fact that that building sat there in that particular spot. So I don’t think I changed her
Lighthouse Therapy (24:32.907)
Mm-hmm.
Lee Thennes (24:52.24)
you know, her opinions on things. But I think it’s important to point that out that, you know, the buildings may have a special place in our heart, but that’s not the real value there. The value…
Lighthouse Therapy (24:53.216)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:04.341)
Yeah, yeah, when you really, yeah, go, I’m sorry, the value, go ahead, I interrupted you. The values and the people, yeah, the people are the things. And I’m glad that you said that too, because I’ve talked to so many, one of the things that we do with Brighter Together, and Lighthouse Therapy too, we serve all schools. We will serve any school district, big, large, public, private, virtual, charter,
Lee Thennes (25:10.286)
are the values in the people.
Lighthouse Therapy (25:34.269)
you name it. So I’ve had, I’ve had Christian schools, I’ve had public schools, I’ve had private schools, I’ve had charter schools, I’ve had virtual charter schools. I mean, all of them on the show, because the people are the ones, all of the people that I talk to are the people who love the kids and want what’s better, what’s best for the kids, right? Because they’re our future. And I also always say, you know, left, left,
Lee Thennes (25:48.462)
Okay.
Lee Thennes (25:56.652)
Yeah.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:01.713)
left side of the aisle, right side of the aisle, doesn’t matter. Everybody cares about the kids and everybody wants what’s best for the kids. So, you know, no matter where you are, you, you love on those kids and you want what’s best for your children and best for the next generation. And I think that if we could as, as a nation embrace that, would make life so much easier. Yeah.
Lee Thennes (26:26.828)
What in the…
Lighthouse Therapy (26:28.455)
And we’re not there yet, but I am a firm believer in that we will get there. We will get there one way or another. You know, it’s not going to stay this way. you know, life goes on whether whether you like what’s happening or not, life will continue to go on. So, yeah, I didn’t like it. And. Yeah, exactly. And that’s it. Faith in human faith in humanity, right? The faith in humanity.
Lee Thennes (26:44.387)
Great.
Yeah, I have faith in people too.
Lee Thennes (26:53.602)
Yes. Yep.
Lighthouse Therapy (26:55.027)
We are all here, we are all trying to do what’s best and live the best life that we can. We only get one, you only get one. Yeah, so, well, Lee, it’s been a fabulous conversation. Thanks again for being on Brighter Together and keep up the good work. Enjoy that senior year with your son. Enjoy the process.
Lee Thennes (27:01.486)
That’s right.
Lee Thennes (27:06.22)
Yes!
Lee Thennes (27:13.903)
Yeah, well thanks so much again. It was a pleasure to be with you today.
